Internationals of Rome, Nadal yields to Shapovalov: no quarterfinals in Rome

Can we talk about left-handed shooting? Never as in this occasion, with Rafa Nadal beaten by Denis Shapovalov in a derby all with his left hand. Old guard and new generation, the king of the earth and the Canadesino who had never had particular joys on earth. This time Denis won, who had already given the king of the earth headaches last year at the Foro Italico forcing him to cancel match points. It hasn’t happened since 2008 that Rafa Nadal left the scene in Rome before the quarter-finals, when he was stopped by Juan Carlos Ferrero, ironically the man who is growing the new tennis crack who is trying to overshadow him. On that occasion, Rafa had blisters. This time, again, it is the injured foot that stops him, much more than the competitive ardor of the Canadian had quarreled with the Roman public in the debut match against our Sonego.

Pulled down

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Under a train, knocked down but never looking for excuses, Rafa admitted that the problem was his left foot which had started to bother him a lot in the middle of the second set. Therefore, the fracture in the side remedied in Indian Wells and which had prevented him from regularly appearing on the field for his tournaments has nothing to do with it. No Monte Carlo, no Barcelona, ​​titles that the most successful southpaw in tennis has already won in double figures. The return to Madrid, without hopes of victory, the defeat at the hands of Alcaraz and finally the arrival in Rome had the aim of preparing for Roland Garros. The empire, the obsession of the boy from Manacor who has already won the scepter of the Bois de Boulogne 13 times and who wanted, wants to try to extend the Slam streak to 22. The left foot with Muller syndrome Weiss never stopped stalking him, even after the late summer surgery. But he doesn’t look for any excuse, Rafa: “I’m not injured – said Nadal in a packed press conference -. I’m a player who lives with a chronic injury. That’s all, nothing new.” Paris moves away, even if in his words, Nadal does not want to leave room for pessimism: “Unfortunately my everyday life is like this, for some time now the pain in training has returned. But I congratulate Denis, I don’t want to take anything away from the his victory. The last two times he lost to me, this time he won. Now my dream is to recover in a week and be ready for Roland Garros. I will go to Paris where my medical staff will decide what to do. I don’t know what therapy it will be. “.